NC Veterans Group Receives Career Grant

Editor's Note: The following is a release from VANC.

Oceanside based has received a grant from the Armed Forces Interest Group of the Rancho Santa Fe Foundation to administer career preparation sessions for local military personnel about to leave the service, as well as those who have  been recently discharged.

VANC’s Career Transition Assistance Program, CTAP, is an eight module series of classes conducted pro bono by professional employment experts and military veterans who have successfully transitioned to employment after discharge.

On March 5, VANC will conduct the first class for pre-registered attendees at 3508 Seagate Way, Suite 160, in Oceanside. Once the VANC Resource Center becomes available, CTAP classes will move to that location, which is the old Oceanside Police Department’s facility at 1617 Mission Ave.

During the course, attendees will receive eight modules at the rate of two, three-hour, sessions per week. All classes will be held in the evening to allow active-duty personnel, as well as working veterans, to attend. Each class will include an optional three-hour laboratory and individuals will receive one on one coaching by experts.

In addition to a customized, professionally developed course, there will be opportunities for veterans to tell attendees of their own experiences they faced upon discharge, offering valuable, realistic suggestions, as well as hands-on advice and what to expect.                   

“We begin with establishing the ‘end in mind,’” Chuck Atkinson, VANC founder,   president and veteran, explained.   “Then we lay out various tools to help attendees in their job search.”     

Included in the CTAP modules: resume writing, job search techniques, interviewing skills, and learning how to translate their experiences into the language employers speak and understand.  VANC will present a panel of experts, recruiters and hiring managers to tell attendees what’s out there and what to expect when they’re hired.

Upon graduation from each class, VANC will present a job fair, giving attendees the opportunity to put what they’ve learned into practice as they meet various employer representatives offering potential jobs.

“We want the opportunity to show our veterans there is life after the military,” Atkinson explained. “We have a cadre of VANC members who have gone through what these young people are facing and they and our professional trainers know how to help them present their skills to prospective employers. We want to put these highly qualified volunteers’ experience to good use to help those who need it now.”

Atkinson said that as the program progresses and class space becomes available, the CTAP sessions will be opened to all veterans.

“Right now our focus is on those people nearing discharge and those older troops about to retire, as well as those who have been out in the civilian world for the past year,” he concluded.

For more information, contact: Chuck Atkinson at 760-941-4712  or chuckatkinson@cox.net